1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transportation device and, more particularly, to a transportation device for compact discs. In addition, this invention also relates to a compact disc processing system using the transportation device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional transportation device usually requires more than two power units (such as motors) to move an arm for gripping a compact disc in different directions (such as up/down and left/right). So, it may have problems on cost and space.
All optical compact discs can be reproduced for a small amount or a reasonable amount by a reproduction system, such as the system claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,298. However, this system requires an enormous amount of space, which is very inconvenient in terms of transportation and operation. Furthermore, due to its complex structure, it also imposes high manufacturing cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,490,232 discloses a compact disc feeder utilizing a transfer device 6 to drive an arm 12 to move and rotate to take a disc from a holder 5 and place it into a tray 49 of a printer 48. Then, the compact disc, which has been printed, is drawn from the printer 48 and stacked in a lower holder 5. However, this device still requires large amounts of space.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,514 discloses a recording/reproducing apparatus for a disc-like recording medium, which can move between two abreast tray stockers 104, 105 and move the tray stocker 104 to a reproduction unit 206 and, then, back to the tray stocker 105. The two abreast tray stockers 104, 105 still require large amounts of space.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a compact disc processing system and a transportation method for compact discs to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.